Powerful Presence
by conchepcion
Summary: "So - - just a question, I'm just mildly curious – how's Thor in bed, you know – being a God and all?" Darcy's world would suddenly find itself turned around, by the fact that she's the only one who can literally see him.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I haven't updated this in ages, sorry about that. I haven't done this category before, so expect the un-expected update more or less. I'm just editing the last two chapters of out of sheer decency.

* * *

_"So - - just a question, I'm just mildly curious – how's Thor in bed, you know – being a God and all?"_

She figured it started when she asked that after a mojihito too many. She was curious honestly - was there like crushing strength involved? Since Thor looked like he was packing, certainly by the look of his arms and the way he'd slug his awesome hammer around. Of course Jane went entirely red, and wouldn't answer a question, before she more or less informed Darcy that nothing had ever really happened.

That bummed her out.

She'd expected something, some nasty little detail she could live on – some _god-like_ sex that would probably go down in the books, but not in her own books. She imagined it had to be quite "epic", to be honest - sex with a god.

The fact that they were both stored away in Tromso, of all places, where it was freezing cold, with no one God-like persona to speak off, while New York was being blown to pieces really did make her annoyed. She only vaguely caught it on the news, mild glimpses that was, and figured that the perpetrator of these heinous crimes, besides "aliens" was the guy dressed in green, "Loki", or "Loke", as they called him in Norway.

She easily found information about him there, the little half-brother, and not-brother of Thor. She wasn't really sure, since Jane wasn't really gushing out the details about the would-be relationship of the two Gods. Why she found him at all interesting she didn't know, but she was just mildly curious. He did seem fascinating in his own way, making such a fuss. OK, so killing people was more than a fuss – possibly chaos, more or less – and blood bath. She supposed that was his thing, as bad boys were certainly in her own historic background.

She always did like the bad-boy; of course she did try her share of supposed nice-guys, who thought of themselves as such, until she suddenly found hands on her boobs and her taser in hers.

Darcy dropped her interest of the green-clad man the minute they returned. Jane wasn't happy, obviously now informed that she'd been sent away, just because "shit was going down," (the fact that Thor had been present, then gone away again didn't help).

They were back at S.H.I.E.L.D, with Jane arguing about them being sent away, and then suddenly finding out that Coulson wasn't going to haunt the hallways anymore – it certainly dampened their spirits. The allure of the green-clad guy sort of disappeared from there, life started to follow the mediocre path, well – mediocre for S.H.I.E.L.D that was, and Darcy would get the occasional odd job.

It wasn't before a year later, she'd been laying in her bed, snoozing her alarm, for the fifth time, considering not showering, as that would at least give her a good half hour – when her bedroom started to shake, stuff falling off her closet, her cup of cold coffee wobbling off her night-stand, "Earthquake?" she almost screamed, grabbing the covers around her body, as it suddenly took to stop, "Small one, apparently. Weird," she said out loud, half sitting up in bed, staring out of the window, until she heard a distinctive groan – _a male one_.

Her head turned swiftly towards the sight right at the end of her bed. There was a man, in a kneeling position – Terminator style in fact – when she meant Terminator - she meant completely and _utterly_ naked. There was a naked man in front of her bed.

She froze.

The man continued to groan, rubbing his fingers on his half-shut eyes, as he suddenly became aware where he was – how the hell did he get there? – He wasn't there a minute ago.

His shape wasn't _all _muscled, not in an Schwarzenegger sort of way, more like, lean and certainly toned. If she weren't petrified she'd like to think him quite hot. Well, he was. Not often she had a hot naked man in her bedroom. Though she could only see him from the shoulders and up – with his dark messy hair – and his clearly sweaty body, or wet - she didn't entirely know.

Her brows were raised, as she finally shut her open mouth, "Ex-excuse me?" she said clinging the sheet to her body for dear life.

His green eyes caught her brown, they soon darted around the room, before returning to her, "Where am I?" he asked, in what she would consider a perfect English accent.

"Ehm," she stuttered for a minute, "You're – you're in my bedroom."

"I seem to be," he said regaining his strength, and standing up.

She put a hand up, shielding herself from the sight of his quite evident – _right there_ – genitals – she fixed her gaze on the ceiling, "You're naked."

"Yes," he only replied looking down on himself for a minute, suddenly seeming amused, "I am, and I suppose that bothers you?"

"Maybe – just a little bit – you are after in all in my bedroom – _how_ – I'd like to know, since I've got several locks really – I'm pretty secure here-," she said slowly trying to move her eyes to his face again.

He looked really familiar.

"Yes, I had thought I would be sent to someplace a bit cooler or hotter," he said thoughtfully for a minute, and then she saw that he was wearing clothes.

She looked at him in shock, "How – wait – you're – hold on – you're not?"

He quirked a brow at her, tilting his head to the side, fixing his gaze on her covered up form, "Eyes up, pervert. You're breaking and entering," she snapped.

He chuckled, and then he disappeared.

* * *

Darcy took a bit longer time in the shower than needed, practically trying to wake up, as she had to have dreamt that. That kind of thing didn't happen every day, certainly not to her, and she couldn't shake it off, while she got to work either. She felt strange somehow, like somebody was watching, and she didn't know if it was because she was in fact being followed or not.

She tried to be normal at work, normal for her that was – sluggishly moving through her paperwork, Googling some stuff, and just being helpful – to her own ability, when she felt she had to ask - "There wasn't like an earthquake earlier today?" she tried to ask casually, with a mug of coffee in her hand, and her glasses perched on the edge of her nose.

Jane just looked at her oddly, "No."

She needed to wear her glasses to bed apparently.

"Oh, right – my bad. Thought my bedroom was shaking-," she said, not letting slip that a naked man showed up.

"That's not a way of telling me you had sex last night?" said Jane with a frown.

"Can't a girl say that her bedroom is shaking without having any fingers pointed at her?" she said giving a rather fake laugh, her worst laugh ever really, as she tried to focus on work instead.

When she finally sat by the laptop, as Jane was busy, too busy to listen, and she was sure her saying that there was a naked man in her bedroom that very morning wouldn't raise any alarms. It made her wonder who in fact that naked man was – with the perfect accent, who was naked, then clad in a dark green dress shirt, and pair of perfectly fit dark pants.

She had thought about it quite a bit, though there was only one man who could wish for that kind of material finesse (or coloring) really, and her Google skills did the trick, as she knew looking up the S.H.I.E.L.D-files would certainly put her on surveillance. She didn't want to do that again.

It was Loki.

He was back, and he'd turned up in _her _bedroom.

Talk about wishful thinking.

* * *

She'd sort of assume that if he was in fact, back-_back_ – wouldn't he blowing up shit, and why didn't she feel compelled to share this tiny detail to anyone really?

She was crazy, why was she keeping something like this secret, but a small piece of her felt it was like important – actually on the matter of life or death that she did not open her big fat mouth about the whole thing.

She suspected that he'd done some voodoo shit on her, some sort of dark magic, since she'd heard Barton had gone all blue-eyed, and evil. It would basically make it easy for anyone to see, if she were possessed or whatever though. She hadn't felt compelled to worship the ground he walked on, or anything, so she supposed that it maybe was her own little voice – that hadn't gotten laid in a while. The fact that she felt someone had been watching her all day wasn't helping either.

He was dangerous, a lunatic, even – he could be doing whatever crazy shit; he could, because he was a god. He was probably waiting for his time to pounce, building up forces, and then going destructo on all their asses if she didn't fess up, but still her mind just went, _give him a chance_.

She'd wait, like a day, or something, and if something didn't happen she wouldn't ring the alarms. He'd certainly make himself known, wouldn't he? – He was after all absolutely crazy, wasn't he?

* * *

He'd taken the punishment, his mouth sewn shut by the all-father, the stitches pulling at his lip, the pain unimaginable, but he hadn't cried.

He would keep his tongue, and so he did.

For days he stood like a guard, like a symbol to be mocked, jeered at, spat at, the most unimaginable things done, but he would stand it. He would be released at some point. He knew not when that would be, for he felt more anger than anything, except for those spare moments Thor was in his presence.

His supposed brother attempting to reach out to him, but he would just wrench his armour away from his touch, and Thor would wander away dejected. His mother was his only solace, her warm words of affection, of never ending hope that he was still her child made him almost falter at his stance. A punishment given to him by his supposed father, the man he didn't have a shred of love for – the man who'd let go of his hand, when all he wanted –

No, there was no point.

War would rage again, he would be at the top. He would just have to feign feelings, be forgiven, and then do what he had set out to do when he returned. They were fools to let him be there so willingly, this was where he needed to be after all, and he would smile if he could.

He would succeed.

How many days in, without a drop of water, or food in his stomach, was it before he heard his mother cry out in anger? He supposed she was set on freeing him, and she was, but in a way he'd never imagined.

"Banish him, let the tesseract chose his path for him. Let it lead him to the place he will regain his heart, for I see only a small flicker of it left," she had said, in what was barely a whisper to the all-father who had taken her words deeply.

"Banish him?" Odin questioned, looking at her in genuine surprise.

"Yes," she had said with a small smile, glancing at her son for only a brief second.

So it was done by his mother's will; his destiny chosen, his plan stalled – by his own mother. No, it was done by a woman who called herself mother. The device used at his own hand would send him away, to whatever hellish realm he could only imagine, and that was what he expected. Thor had protested, wildly, but his mother had stood her ground. A thing he'd never expected her to do, she was always emotion - always the one who'd stand for him, but she did not now.

It had hurt, certainly a great deal. His flesh had felt much more present than it had when he'd first ventured to Midgard. Every single little bit of him ached.

Then he felt the soft carpet underneath him, caught the sight of a bed, and the female that inhabited it. From what he'd understood when his brother had been banished he had been sent to a desert – _his _banishment had lead him to a bedroom. It wasn't remotely close to a punishment, and he wondered idly if that was what his mother had planned all along. But she couldn't have known where the tesseract would send him – certainly?

* * *

He'd felt liberated the moment he'd vanished from the woman's place, except there was one fault with this freedom of his. The minute he'd left her place, he felt his power drain him entirely. His breath grew haggard, as he could not keep his bearings. He wasn't used to this, to not feel the surge of the energy through his body. He'd rather have his mouth sewn together again, than understand what kind of torment he was going through. He'd navigated himself back to where the woman lived, while trying to understand what kind of madness had befallen him, and felt his limbs grow stronger again when he had finally reached her place.

Loki had barely come to grips with the fact that no one else could see him, for people wandered past him, without so much as a glance, when he'd finally found himself back on the path – feeling power surging through his being, when he had returned.

He saw her in the distance, locking her door, questioning her actions, before she left, but he kept himself invisible to her too now. Intentionally that was, wondering why he was so to others, and why the minute she'd started to move away he felt weakened.

He felt mortal without her presence.

The midgardian seemed normal enough. No unordinary powers at her disposal, pretty even if he were to judge her by their standards – nothing god-like about her at all.

He followed her, observed her from a close enough distance without him feeling out of breath. She seemed to feel unnerved however, as if she felt watched, but she'd take to shake her head often.

Then he was at S.H.I.E.L.D and he realized whom she was connected with. It was a coincidence, really, an odd one, but for every time he attempted to escape her – he was weakened. His powers were only of use when she was there, "What kind of malice is this?" he'd snarled to no one.

When he'd walked a secure distance, marveling in the unorganized quality of the people within, he'd revealed himself, but no one saw him.

Not a soul.

They only wandered past him, as if he were nothing.

He was an invisible God to them all.

Even if he was weakened he could still move, like an ordinary mortal, and he pushed objects off desks, but no one gave him notice. They just looked curiously at the things that had taken to fall, "Can't you see me?" he'd said rather menacingly to a familiar female face who stared into what she assumed was air, before busying herself again.

In the end he returned to her – the woman who gave him his strength back, from what he could hear – her name was Darcy, and she worked for the mortal Jane – the woman Thor pined for. He snorted, only one head had moved at that, and that was Darcy.

* * *

She'd been sitting watching the TV, flipping through channels trying to see if there were any freak storms, or incidents that had suddenly taken to happen in any part of the world, but everything seemed human-made really. Darcy laid back calmly in the sofa feeling relieved, when a voice had suddenly said, "You can see me."


	2. Chapter 2

When heroes started turning up left and center revealing themselves to the world confirming that - yes, Gods did exist. It wasn't unusual that she like the rest of them fantasized about it. Everyone wanted a tiny moment of heroics; running into burning buildings, facing robbers in banks, saving an entire family from being burnt alive in a car (plus an adorable pet, preferably a golden retriever), or save a kid from being beaten up by a bunch of thugs.

But like everyone else most situations of actual heroics end up with her hurtling backwards off the sofa screaming her head off, while running to the kitchen trying to find a knife, only to find that there are no knifes on the kitchen surfaces or in any of the drawers, making that entire idea idiotic too, as she couldn't exactly use a knife anyway.

What was she going to do?

Stab him?

He was a God.

They'd run over Thor with a car –_ twice_, and he only got knocked out.

She still admitted that she was being punished because of her love for ordering take out – and that her taser is of course in her purse, which is by the door past the psychotic God lounging on the sofa with not a care in the world. Instead the only weapon she has, clutched in her hands is her remote control, which she almost throws at him, but instead she stands bug-eyed in the kitchen – her glasses almost dangling off her nose, until she adjusts them, "What the HELL are you doing here?" she practically screams at the man who'd whispered rather tentatively, _"You can see me."_

Loki is stretched out carelessly on her sofa, dressed in whatever majestic robe, with a cape he's wearing for intimidation-reasons she assumes, as he just looks at her with mild interest. The remote that was securely being drenched in sweat in her hands vanishes, instead finds its place in his, as he flips through the various channels sighing loudly, "Certainly not catching up on anything good," he finally said, making her shoulders sag in surprise, as some tension is relieved with his speaking.

"Why are you here?" she said still standing in the kitchen, staring at the back of his head, which then turned to her – green eyes filled with amusement.

"As I said – you can see me – but I am surprised you haven't called S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of your heroes to arrest me yet?"

Her nose scrunched up at that, "What – aren't you –they'll – _hello _– they said that you were being punished?"

"I certainly am going through one now, with your mindless chatter you insolent chit."

"Wait – wait – what do you mean I'm the only one who can see you?"

He smirked at that, "At long last we come to the actual questions of importance – you see mortal-,"

"Darcy," she interrupted with narrowed eyes.

"-I was sent away from Asgard - banished – after having served a heavy punishment – I was to be inflicted with a new one. Of course I expected a cold or hellish realm – only to find myself on your floors."

She gaped, "What – you mean they sent you_ here_? What kind of Gods are they that we first have to send you up there, then they only end up returning you, because they couldn't make you go into the corner properly?"

He raised a brow, "My point exactly, however it seems that what could have been seen as a reward on my part – is indeed a punishment."

"OK?"

"Do I need to remind you that you are the only one that can see me?"

Darcy gaped, hurriedly shut her mouth until she gaped again, "Shut up – really?"

"Yes, indeed mortal. I did go to S.H.I.E.L.D. today, but none of the souls could see me."

"Hey - I was there! - I didn't see you there either."

"I was invisible at the time."

Darcy blinked, "OK – wait – what?"

"I was invisible, so _you_ couldn't see me– is it so difficult to grasp? – I did however wander amidst their room with no collective outbreak – it was rather dull."

"So – you're like a ghost?"

"You could say that, however-," he said disappearing from her sofa, and suddenly reappearing right in front of her, causing her to jump back, pressing herself up against the kitchen counter, "You can see me - mortal."

Darcy let out a breath, "OK – well – enough with the small talk – I think it is time you just left."

He frowned at this, "Unfortunately, I cannot leave your side."

"Why is that?" she said her teeth on the edge.

"Besides invisibility they have inflicted me with another curse."

"Spell it out god."

He smirked practically leering at her, "I do like it when you address me properly."

"Get to the point – or I will – tase your ass. I did it to your brother the god of thunder, so I am not afraid of doing it to you."

"You should be afraid mortal," he said with a hint of a smile, until he grudgingly added a line that made her stomach roll, "I am powerless without you."

Darcy pressed her lips together, trying not to let the laughter escape her, as she tried to be calm, "Are you coming on to me? Since that's a terrible line."

"I am merrily speaking the truth."

"Yeah, the god of lies is speaking the truth – right – well – you're saying that nobody can see you – except me – and you have no powers without me around?"

"Precisely."

"Yeah – I'm leaving," she said slowly edging away from the counter, until she scrambled towards the door picking up her handbag, which she slung over her shoulder.

"Be my guest, but I will go with you."

"I am going to S.H.I.E.L.D," she said with her chin out defiantly.

He only smiled, "I'll come along."

* * *

The mortal seemed riled, while he followed her. She was constantly trying to edge away from him, as the streets were crowded that evening with people heading out to any kind of debauchery from the idle readings of the surfaces of their minds. Instead of a taxi they huddled inside a bus. She kept eyeing him suspiciously, as others did not, "Don't sit with me," she whispered hurriedly making him sit one row behind her.

Her shoulders were tense, her posture straight, unlike the one he'd seen when he'd observed her – her head snapping often to the back where he sat with an almost pleasant expression on his face, as her lips were pursed out of frustration.

"This isn't some sort of magic trick, right – where you've just made me think I'm the only one who can see you?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to look at him, as others looked at her curiously.

"No, I do not possess mind control – I can only suggest," he said in a clear crisp voice.

"You controlled Clint."

"Well, I had an item in my possession at the time, which made such things simplified. I could of course suggest various things to you, and see if you _submit_."

She turned glaring at him with wide brown eyes, "The hell you do," she said soon making a rueful grimace towards an old lady who with shifty-eyes took to stare out of the window of the bus.

"I don't really see the point of going to S.H.I.E.L.D," he said conversationally, "It will serve for my amusement now, however." They got off the bus with her walking ahead of him, as he took even steps with his long legs.

"First things first we're going to fix this," she snapped.

"How? Do you have unlimited access, mortal?"

"Oh no, you don't. I know you may think that this some sort of situation where I help your sorry ass, but I am in not in a friendly mood – and becoming a friend with a God is not on my bucket list," she said pointing at him.

"Has it come to your attention the fact that no one will believe you, but would question your sanity if you were to enter – and say you can see me?" he would have said, instead he just gestured towards the building, and she stamped ahead of him clearly determined, with her brown eyes turning towards him every now and then.

He knew he could make her life a misery, but she was of course doing it effortlessly without his assistance. Loki was more than amused by her shriek of fright at the sight of him, and he had done nothing too wicked. At first he was tempted to frighten her, instead of revealing himself as he had, but he longed to be seen – longed to sense people's fear. For in her, he could only sense a certain annoyance more than fear, which in turn frustrated him. He did not see why the tiny mortal lived with the assumption that she could best him. She was just a silly midgardian, having not his years of knowledge, or his powers.

She used her card to enter the still rather active environment, as he followed her with slow deliberate steps, while she constantly eyed him, as nobody seemed to give her a second glance.

"You're not important - as I assumed."

"Oh shut up – I'm-," she started, but stopped herself immediately, when her friend the mortal Jane suddenly caught sight of her.

* * *

"Darcy – what are you doing here?" she asked sipping from a cup of coffee.

"Oh, just, you know-," she had begun, cutting it immediately short, "Why are you here?"

"Just working late, as usual," said Jane with a smile.

"No Godly sights then?" she said taking in the people all sitting by their screens, or hustling about carrying papers.

It really seemed that S.H.I.E.L.D never slept.

Jane looked at her with her brows knitted, "No," she said rather slowly.

"Right, right, so you know I might just hang in the office a bit."

"OK – you don't need the day off for tomorrow right?"

"No, not at all – just – couldn't sleep."

"It's only nine o'clock in the evening?" said Jane with a raised brow.

"What's with the suspicion – can't your assistant – come and assist you?"

"Not when tomorrow's a Saturday - you usually sleep in."

Darcy frowned, as Jane didn't make anything easier really. She tried avoiding looking into the general direction of Loki, who'd still not used her name.

Not that she really cared, but if she'd be dealing with him for a long period of time – she hoped he'd at least call her by her name.

Not that she actually cared, really, since she didn't.

He could just skip off to wherever he came from, and she could live her some-what easy existence, without him being all God-like. This wasn't the point where this was really all in her head, because she'd been thinking too much about him?

By the smug look on his face, he could probably hear that, so she focused her energy on Jane instead, "Nah, it's just – I feel so lazy, you know – you guys work so hard all the time – there must be something I can do."

Jane looked at her in surprise, but gave a brief nod, "That's nice of you."

"Well, you know me – I can – when I want to be," she said with a smile. How on earth was she going to tell her? Oh, by the way, I'm apparently hallucinating a God.

_I'm not a hallucination_, said a voice in her head, which wasn't hers, and when she looked at him he wasn't looking back at her. He was just staring out in the general room. She narrowed her eyes for second, trying to look intimidating, but probably failing. If he was going to start doing that, it would become very annoying, very fast, "Don't talk with me in my head," she thought.

_Don't think so loudly, you're practically screaming in my head – it is very distracting._

"Darcy – you – ok?" said Jane.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit – tired, you know."

"You sure you want to be here, right now? – I'll give you the weekend off, you know."

"No – no – no – I'm awesome, I promise!"

Jane looked at her like she was crazy, given that she was having that feeling herself; it wasn't off the mark at all.

"OK, so I might not be so awesome – the thing is-," and before the words even came out of her mouth Loki's hand slapped Jane's cup of coffee away. The coffee pouring out everywhere, and Darcy could only gape at him, as he did so, "What the hell is wrong with you?" she hissed.

Jane had gotten the hot coffee on most of her shirt, and was quickly handed some tissues by someone close, besides grimacing at the warmth, "Wow – how did that happen?" she said surprised.

"I told you she can't see me," said Loki very loudly almost causing her to hush him, but nobody was aware of him – which meant that yes the God of lies was telling the truth.

"Shut-," she started to say, as Jane was staring at her in confusion.

This was just great, she was now officially a crazy person – they'd probably send her off on a sabbatical, or something, "That's weird," Darcy said with large eyes, giving a brief nod, "Maybe some residue God-powers hanging around – you're after all Thor's girlfriend."

Loki snorted, while Jane turned red hurriedly trying to hush her, before walking away, and Darcy followed her trying to avoid being stared by the people who weren't all running off to sound the alarm.

She could even see Nick Fury laughing with someone in the distance, and he seemed very calm, which was unusual given his name.

"I'm not his – we're not – just don't bring it up here, would you?" said Jane awkwardly.

"Ashamed to be associated with my brother. Oh, I do like her," said Loki.

"She's not – no – I mean – you're not ashamed?" said Darcy.

Jane raised a brow, "I'm not, I just, it's not like he's here, as he's in a place where I can't exactly reach him at all, and last time he was here he didn't exactly call me up."

"Oh, disappointed is she?"

SHUT UP, PLEASE, she thought.

"I won't," he said.

"I think I'm just going to go – do some work – look up some stuff, you know," and Darcy practically sprinted with Loki hot at her heels, as she tried to lose him by walking into people, but he just carefully swerved between everyone else.

* * *

Her tactics amused him, for she constantly tried to pretend he wasn't in fact there, as she was looking up "People hallucinating Gods isn't given me anything, except a bunch of atheists being angry about burning bushes being logical for some," she said sighing, crossing her arms, and for the first time acknowledging his presence, as she looked at him pointedly, "So, do you have any suggestions, or do you want to be the invisible man?"

"I do actually."

"As long as they don't involve me trying to do something that is illegal, causes deaths or has anything to do with taking over the world."

"You are not giving me any options."

"Well, then, you can run along, then – since I'd love to be without you, and it would do everyone a favor if you were mortal anyway."

"Don't test me, mortal."

"If you'd stop calling me mortal, I would. My name is Darcy you know, and I-," she stopped, and he turned to glance at what had made her stop talking – it was agent Romanov standing in the doorway looking at her with a raised brow.

"Darcy – I heard you in the hallway – talking to yourself?"


	3. Chapter 3

She suddenly remembered her childhood. Being a kid was easy compared to this shit, since make-believe was a part of life, and Gods were the greatest fairy-tales in her book, while super-heroes were regular business. If someone had told her as a kid that she was destined to hang around them all of the time, and super-assassins like Natasha, then she'd probably say, "Yes, please," except here she was in her twenties trying to come up with a lie, which she was to be fair rather good at.

The fact was that her brain was working at an unusually slow rate for once, which was not so good, "Oh - just - you know – I'm just talking to the big guy up there – you know _God_ – he's – invisible and all," she said very quickly, while Natasha eyed her curiously before following her finger that was pointing up at the ceiling.

She sounded like one of _those_ people, and she supposed if she went into a long enough speech about religion maybe the red-head would walk away, "You're - praying?" said Natasha, "I didn't know you were religious."

"Ehm – I blame the lack of an imaginary friend as a kid – so – yeah – I'm just being weird – on my own really," she said her eyes lingering at Loki who was taking slow strides around the room, walking slow circles around the oblivious Natasha looking like he was about to pounce.

In the ass-kicking department she had to give Natasha all the credit there, since besides the guys who turned green, donned the flag, or wore a solid iron casing; none of them really freaked her out, as much as Natasha did with her whole mysterious spy-get-up. The fact that she was human in a group filled with extraordinary guys meant that she had more to give than met the eye, and none of the Avengers seemed to disagree with that, so if he were to actually be interested in trying to kick her ass when she couldn't see him – he'd probably throw her off for only a second.

"You obviously thought that through," said Loki who had made a double of himself. He was either hovering nearby Natasha's face with his nostrils flaring, or he was striding besides her angrily, whatever floated his boat really.

"Ok – is it - guy-trouble?" said Natasha with raised brows looking like the whole thing was out of her depth.

Darcy couldn't exactly imagine Natasha having any guy-related-issues so she was sort of surprised that she was even asking, even if she was by some weird coincidence right, except by some missteps.

"Yeah…you can say that," she said for a second pretending her eyes had gone distant, except she was really keeping an eye on the Loki with his back to her, looking like he was seething, "Actually yeah – there is this guy – and he's a real – _ass_." If she could underline the ass-bit she would, since he did have an ass, and she was staring at it.

Luckily when Loki turned to her scoffing he didn't seem to notice for once, "Is this what I have descended to – having to listen to these trivial conversations?"

She wasn't supposed to be staring at his ass, after all. His ass was off-limits, but Natasha distracted her from her thoughts, "Ok…well – Clint and I are going out for a couple of drinks. If you want to join us to talk about the ass – you're welcome to," said Natasha with a tiny smile.

Of course now she was finally getting asked to join on their secret sorority parties, which made her feel like a complete nerd for not being involved in, but it wasn't like those high-up talked to her really. She felt herself internally screaming over the fact that she'd have to say, "Oh, no, I've got to work – stuff to do," she said with a fake smile adjusting her fingers on the keyboard, quickly closing the web-browser of the suspicious Google-window, before making some actual important looking documents pop up (basically a file she'd had stored for ages).

"On a Friday?" said Natasha doubtfully, as if superheroes had a day off really.

"Yeah, just wanted to change my style, you know, try to work a bit harder– so – I'll skip the drinks," she said remembering her last weekend, which was tequila shot after tequila shot.

She felt Loki's eyes turn to her, his mouth twisting up, as she only sent him a hateful look. Darcy only realized that she was technically sending Natasha one, as she was glaring at the Loki in front of her face, "Have a good time though," she said putting her face into neutral, while Natasha looked at her oddly staring straight into Loki's face without knowing.

"Your loss," said Natasha walking out of the room leaving Darcy with Loki, or _Loki's?_

She wasn't sure how this was going to work. She suspected he'd trick her all the time really, but she had her eyes on the real one at least. Darcy hurried off to the door closing it, before she then sank into her comfy swivel chair, and let her face slip into her hands, "Maybe I am crazy – maybe that's it," she mumbled.

If he was an ordinary human-being he'd come with something comforting to say, except he didn't, and when she lifted her face she saw him studying his fingers with a bored expression, while the other him was staring out of the glass door, "If you don't mind I'd appreciate a moment to myself."

Loki by the door turned to her with a brief smile, "No – if you were to do something beneficial like asking one of your friends about our condition we would get somewhere."

"They're going think I'm crazy," she said in an anguished voice.

"They will."

"So I'm just going to go – oh hey - guess what - I can see-," the minute she tried to say – _Loki, he's invisible to you guys _– her mouth slammed shut.

Darcy clawed at her lips with her fingers, finding them physically pushed together, unable to press a word out, "– oh – what the hell – I can't even say-," yet again her mouth remained shut, until, "Is this you? This _is_ you – isn't it?" she said standing up from her seat and narrowing her eyes at him, "Some stupid magic spell, or something, right?"

Loki didn't look at her with vindictive pleasure, as his eyes were wide, and he was staring at her lips in fascination looking absolutely confused, "This isn't you, is it?" she said taking to look at both of him, the two bearing the same expression, "How the hell am I supposed to ask help for now? I don't want any of this crap! I'm pretty happy with being mediocre, thank you very much. I don't need any special powers to be happy, and I really don't want to be able to be the only one who can see your sorry ass."

The one furthest away in the corner of the room strode to her, his shoulders drawn back, and his gaze unyielding, "I'd rather you not use the word _ass_, anymore," he said with a rather intimidating expression, "If you think I wished this upon myself you are quite mistaken – I suggest you take some measures in trying to fix this, or I will do my best to make your life agony."

Darcy allowed herself an eye roll, "You know at this point, you might as well be a new invisible friend of mine, or I'll-,"

"Invisible friend?"

"So? OK, I had an imaginary friend, when I was a kid – doesn't mean I was insane – or something-,"

"No, I am just wondering why you told a lie, when Agent Romanov addressed you – perhaps – this is why you're inclined to see me now?"

"Wait a minute – loads of people have had imaginary friends – I bet half of the people here have had ones-," she said with a nod, " – and nobody's exactly been looking your way if you haven't noticed."

He sighed, "I do detest asking this question, however I feel I will have to – _who_ was your invisible friend?"

Darcy blinked at him. Things had certainly turned on their head, of course considering things - talking about her old friend wasn't exactly going to bring him back, "Just some guy, you know. Everyone's got one."

"I didn't."

"Well – of course _you_ didn't – you can turn invisible by will – why would_ you_ have an invisible friend? I had one, and he helped me – when I needed help, which I don't exactly think you're going to do – _oh_ – what if it's one of those things?"

"What are you on about?" he said with furrowed brows.

Darcy walked away from him, before she started to pace the room. He had been standing too close to her really, and despite the fact that he was technically harmless, or well he wasn't that harmless, as he could suddenly decide to kill her, though she suspected he wouldn't since she was his _vessel of power_, after all, "Ok – so what if – what if this whole thing is like one of those stupid – body swap – self-realisation-crap-things? You obviously have issues, so we've got to fix those issues, even if they seem to be-," He was literally glaring at her, his teeth on the edge, " – more than just one – obviously, so we've got some stuff to work on. Of course I don't want to be anyone's shrink, but apparently I'm the only one you got – but then again I might be wrong – and we're just stuck together – forever – _oh god_ – what if there's no cure? I don't actually expect you to wake up and be – oh I did so many shitty things – we're all good – I can go home. You're not ET - you killed a whole lot of people, and I just – I – need – to – sit down," she said sitting down on her chair again taking a deep breath.

"Must you talk so much?" he asked after she'd been sitting on the chair for a minute trying to ease the pain that had suddenly hit her head – _induced by Loki – oh – this was not going to go well_, "Certainly not with that outlook," he said out loud.

"Don't do that – I've got enough with my own thoughts – and having you in my head isn't making me feel any better," she said through gritted teeth.

"I don't enjoy being in your presence either, but as you said – you are saddled with me – I would try to find a solution, and that quickly if we are to be relieved from this...detestable misfortune." Suddenly there were more of him in the room, making her head spin more or less, as it was literally – six of him wandering around her, "I do wish you would take this seriously. However, I am inclined to let you go on the mere thought that if you do not find a solution I will indeed make it all unbearable for you."

He'd given her that threat twice now, yet it didn't seem believable to her, of course the fact that it was spoken by all of the six Loki's simultaneously in the room certainly made her head spin, "Ok," she said standing up from her seat, "You know – we need some alcohol –_ I_ need some alcohol – lots of alcohol." Darcy made a grab for the one Loki she by instinct assumed was right, and the second she took him – all of the other's faded, and he wrenched his arm out of her grip looking at her suddenly flustered.

"Oh, sorry," she said raising her hands up, as he just stared at her.

"Admittedly I am surprised you could find me, or touch me - if anything at all," he said with lips parted, as he stared at his arm.

"At least we've got it confirmed that you _do_ exist, and I'm not crazy. So will you come along already?" she said breaking her promises of working hard and not drinking on a Friday.

"Mortals," Loki muttered under his breath – however pointless that was – as she was the only one who could hear him after all.

* * *

Silent. If one were to ignore the music or the inane chattering in the background, with sudden bursts of giggling coming from a gaggle of mortal females, who were all pouring over their luminous coloured drinks it was silent. He was sat with the wretched female who was the source of the silence, for she had spent an hour without talking, while drinking her _beer_, and avoiding his eyes entirely. Loki kept magically re-filling his own goblet repeatedly, and as he lifted it to his lips, "I'm surprised no one sees that," she said with a whisper, "I thought they'd see a glass floating mid-air really."

She was curious, he could gather as much from her, "I of course made it invisible," he said smirking.

The mortal took a great swig of what was her fourth beverage, meeting his eye at last, and seeming resistant to the powers of the alcohol unlike the other mortals who were cackling madly. She had touched him, even found him amidst his own perfect replicas, unlike Thor who struggled to pin him down at the best of times. She was only a mortal – one who gave him his power back – nonetheless – but why – _her?_ Of all midgardians why was she singular? Unlike the rest she wasn't terrified of him. No, she was sat there observing him, like he had her, and he'd been invisible at that. Was it truly his mother who had elected her, or was there someone else who'd brought this curse upon him? When he realised that she was still staring he slowly raised a brow at her. She frowned at him, "Okay, so – how come?"

He raised a brow, "I'm sorry?"

"Why did you go all crazy-God on us last year? OK, I get that you obviously have some daddy-issues from what Jane told me and stuff, but seriously most us work through that kind of crap by-," she said lifting up her glass demonstratively, "Well – not all of us."

"Daddy-issues?" he repeated with a frown, "I have no issues - I was only asserting my right to rule."

"Oh - you've definitely got them, everyone's got some - being a God – I think yours are bigger - and since you're stuck with me – you're answering the question, or I will – I promise you - run."

"I do not need to run after you to capture you."

"Well – by – not answering the question – you answered the question – so we're good – _ok_ – what about Thor?"

He felt his face tense, "OK, obviously not a good relationship there either," she said looking at him intently.

"If you wish to continue speaking with your life in tact I would avoid questioning me so freely."

"I've thought about that," she said leaning on her hand, "I realized that you – well – you can't."

She was smiling to his displeasure, "And why can I not wring your neck? I'd certainly derive pleasure from it."

Instead of shrinking in her seat, or dropping the smile she said rather calmly, "Because if I go – you go – you see – I give you power, that basically means that you'll be killing yourself, and that you won't do." After that pronouncement she emptied the rest of her beverage, "The only person who'd know anything would be Doctor Selvig, of course he's off in Norway…"

"We could travel there, of course-," he said lifting his hand idly, feeling the power at his fingertips, but she shook her head.

"Yeah, well – oh yeah – I can barely pay my electricity bill – I don't think he's just going to believe I took a small trip to Norway just to ask him a question, which I can't physically say anyway."

"I suggest your friend Jane in that case."

"I'm mortal – but _she's_ - Jane. Ok, fine – great, and yeah, I know, I'll bring her up to speed – or well – say I've got an invisible friend –," she said "You see – there's like no logical way for me telling her this without sounding crazy. They'll probably lock me up and test me and shit. I don't want to be locked up, or tested. I'm not cut out for that stuff - I'm still upset they took my iPod."

He ignored the last word, "Then perhaps we will have to find out just how far our connection goes in the morning."

At that she let out a laugh, "And where exactly are you going to sleep?" she said with a deadly serious expression, "Since I don't share my bed."

"Not from what I've understood," he said smiling, for in her mind there was an array of salacious material he could prod with amusement, however short-lived it was.

He should have perhaps seen the blow coming from where he was sat, as she was radiating with anger, but he had been momentarily distracted.

* * *

She wasn't one for physical violence. Actually she hated it, for she'd been accused of it a whole lot during high school. Apparently retaliating when someone was being a jackass was seen as negative, making guys call her bitch, but she wasn't going to sit there letting him say anything to her face. He'd after all threatened to make her life hell twice, and then end her life. Loki had vanished into thin air after that, or kept himself invisible. She knew he could hear her, so she did her best to stay extra-long in the bar, even flirting with the bartender, hoping that Loki would be annoyed.

He couldn't exactly go off on his own without her, even if the idea that she was never alone didn't please her, it was good that he gave her the illusion of her being alone at least. The idea of being alone was now a luxury after all, since she didn't know how long she'd be stuck with him. She could almost call him a stalker at this point; when she finally walked home she shouted in the dark, after hearing laughter as she almost fell, "Could you just quit the whole invisibility-thing?"

He didn't re-appear, and people looked at her like she was a freak. Of course he didn't show up until she was home finishing up her leftover Chinese take-out, "OK, I'm going to bed soon – and I do sort of need to know where you'll be sleeping," she said to thin air.

"I'll take the bed," said a voice near her ear.

"No – no - no," she said jumping up from the sofa, as he had been leaning closely by her ear, "I'm taking the bed - you sleep on the floor, or magic yourself a bed, or use the sofa."

"I might be a God, but my powers are somewhat limited," he said with a sneer.

"You're a God – and still there's down-sides – bummer. Well, I'll bring out the mattress," she said walking into the bedroom to find him lying on the bed, "Ok – get off my bed-," she said about to grab his arm, when he disappeared, "Oh my God – could you not?" she snapped, as he then strode properly into the room.

"That would be too easy."

She bent down on her knees reaching underneath the bed, and grabbed for a dusty old mattress she kept in case of emergencies, before intending to bring it out in the living room, "I will have to sleep in the bedroom," he said.

"Ok but – can't we just try the limit of the power thing? For like one night?"

"No – now – put it down," he said and she let the mattress fall to the floor with a bang.

"Right, I'm getting ready for bed – no following me to the bathroom – please – since that'll be too weird."

"Don't worry – I certainly am not interested."

Usually she'd fall asleep with her makeup on if she was buzzed, of course she couldn't do that now. Instead she had to brush her teeth, comb her hair, and do all of the crap she reserved for morning after. She put on just a t-shirt, not willing to put on more than that, as it was rather hot, and if he saw her legs – big deal. It was just her legs after all.

Darcy was shocked when she got to her bedroom, which to be entirely honest didn't resemble her own anymore – the walls were deep green instead of white – the drapes were a shade of deep purple, and by her window that looked larger than usual - was a magnificent mahogany four-poster bed that Loki was lying on shirtless wearing a pair of black silk pyjama bottoms, "Did you just redecorate my room?" she said blinking at him stupidly.

"It was only a minor adjustment. Of course I intended to do more, but – it took a great deal more effort than I supposed," he said looking bored, and even a bit tired.

She slipped underneath her covers – taking note that in his hands was a book, which didn't exactly resemble any of her own worn copies, but she directed her attention elsewhere, "At least your bed isn't taking up space," she said conversationally blaming the beer for her talking.

"I made the room larger," he said turning a page in his book slowly.

She sat up in the bed at that - it _was_ bigger on the inside, which was weird. She didn't see it at first due to his huge bed that looked much fancier than hers by far, "You can do that? Wow." It was pretty impressive, she had to admit that, and she might not actually trust his sorry ass, or dismiss the fact that he'd been anything less than the bad guy, but still. In the end, despite her better judgement she said, "So – sorry about slapping you."

"It didn't do me a great deal of harm-,"

"I know – _I know_ – you're a God – I could stab you and it wouldn't make much difference – I know."

"I planned to apologise, Darcy," he said, though he didn't exactly sound like he was at all close to apologising.

"You used my name – shocker – so ok – just don't read my mind like that again. That's my business, and what I do – is my business, that's all I've got to say about that."

It got quiet after that, she hardly thought they'd start having a deep mid-night talk about their feelings and stuff, since this wasn't a sleep-over exactly. She'd never been to one where someone brought their own bed, and threatened to kill her either, but when she tried lying down in her bed she noticed something, "Did you change my sheets?"

"They were fairly unpleasant."

"They cost me twenty bucks," she said in annoyance, "You could've asked."

"If you want me to-,"

"No, it's fine, it's all good – even if green isn't exactly the colour I'd use in a bedroom either, it's all fine." Honestly, the felt much better than the actual four-dollars she'd spent on her old ones. The God's had good linen apparently.

He snapped his fingers, and more in the room changed, including her book-case which was now cluttered with books in languages too complex for her to understand, "You really know how to impress a girl, but – stop trying to give my place a makeover, I did buy all the crap that's here," she said eyeing her bed, which was now similar to his, though with red sheets.

"The place was lacking."

"Give me a bigger TV, and then we'll be talking, so – just curious - what if there's no way out of this?"

"There is always a way and I intend to find it."

"OK, well, good to know we're both thinking."

"You're only expecting your friend to come up with a solution, which she will not comply with. None of the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. will be helpful. This has Odin's name all over it."

"Your dad?"

"No," he said roughly.

"Oh, yeah, right – the daddy-issues thing, sorry, I forgot. I'll avoid mentioning him in the future."

"Do – nonetheless – I find it peculiar that you are not frightened of me."

"To be honest, there's not really many who scare me, of course if you started dressing up as a clown we'd be talking."

"A jester?"

"Not exactly, let's not talk about my child-hood traumas, let's just sleep, and maybe this will all be a bad dream."

"I beg to differ."

She laughed avoiding staring at him, while wondering how the hell she was going to fix this. She wasn't really equipped for this kind of thing at all, since she was usually the one who stood on the side-lines, but now she was bunking up with a psychotic God. _Great._

* * *

The minute the mortal Darcy had fallen asleep he felt himself slowly drifting off, his perception and senses waning. He started to understand that it was because of her, and he found himself frightened, until he too was fast asleep.


End file.
